


It's Who You Are

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds, Spencer Reid - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 02:30:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8427796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: After the team rags on Spencer for his ramblings on chess, the reader chews them out a bit for making him feel bad.Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	

“Chess really is a fascinating game,” Spencer said, much more awake than the rest of his colleagues that morning. “The longest game possible is 5,949 moves.” He finished prepping his sugar coffee (instead of coffee with sugar, because honestly Spencer could just pour coffee into a bowl of sugar and have it be the same thing), and sipped it with one hand, wildly gesturing with the other. 

“There are nearly 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 (or one hundred sixty-nine octillion, five hundred eighteen septillion, eight hundred twenty-nine sextillion, one hundred quintillion, five hundred forty-four quadrillion) possible combinations for the first 10 opening moves in a game and it’s even been banned throughout the course of history.” Y/N walked in right during the middle of his ramblings on chess and stopped in her tracks before prepping her coffee. “Did you know that the first folding chess board was developed by a priest because he had to find a way to sneak it around?”

As he was talking, Y/N looked around at her colleagues. Rossi was checking his watch. Hotch was smiling, but shaking his head and Emily and Morgan had nearly checked out. “I’m sorry I asked,” JJ said, patting Spencer on the shoulder and turning away. Pretty much everyone else turned away, leaving Spencer to his cup of coffee.

“What did she ask you about?” Y/N queried, genuinely curious as to how he got to fanboying about chess. She started to fix up her coffee as Spencer sighed.

“She just asked what I did this weekend,” he said, stopping himself. Like he didn’t want to bore her like he’d bored everyone else. She motioned for him to continue. “I was just playing through a bunch of different permutations.”

Y/N hated when the team made fun of him for the things he loved. So he was different. Who cared? He enjoyed talking about things. He liked facts, so was it that much for them to let him talk without rolling their eyes, or ignoring him, or making fun of him? She knew the team loved him and he loved them too, but he did get self-conscious about it; she could tell when they turned around to leave and his face fell. She always tried to be the one to listen. To let him be excited. “That sounds awesome,” she said, mixing the sweetener into her coffee. “One day you and I need to play a couple of games. I need to see if I can beat the genius Dr. Reid. It’s definitely on my bucket list.”

The smile returned to his face as he poured himself another cup of coffee. The good doctor could down coffee like no one else you knew. Even her - and that was saying something. “That sounds awesome, Y/N. I’d love that.”

\--------------------------

Thinking back on that morning when the team had been so dismissive of Spencer, Y/N couldn’t let it go. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, and it definitely wasn’t going to be the last - unless one of their friends and teammates lovingly chewed them out a bit. So when Spencer had gone to pick up the team’s lunch, she gathered them in the conference room.

“Guys,” she started, checking behind her again to make sure Spencer wasn’t back yet, “you guys really need to lay off Spencer.”

“What do you mean?” Emily asked, confused. Everyone looked at her like they didn’t understand what the issue was.

“Really?” For some of the smartest people in the world, they could be pretty dense. “This morning when JJ asked him about his weekend and he started rambling about chess...no one was paying attention.” She splayed her hands on her hips, getting more frustrated by the second. It irked her more than she realized. “You and Morgan checked out,” she said, cocking her head at Emily, “Hotch was shaking his head. Rossi was checking his watch and JJ you made him feel like no one cared with your ‘sorry I asked’ comment.”

They all looked at the floor. They knew it. And she knew they didn’t mean it deep down. But words could hurt. “Look, I know you guys don’t mean it - and sure he can get overly excited, but it’s who he is and as his friends, he shouldn’t feel as though he’s a burden when he talks about himself. That’s how he looked this morning when you all walked away.”

JJ looked like she’d been punched in the throat. “I didn’t mean it how it sounded,” she said quietly.

“I know JJ, but it still hurts him. You all know the type of stuff he went through as a kid. So how do you think it makes him feel when his best friends act the same way?”

Hotch looked up guiltily. “You’re right, Y/N. We’ll watch ourselves more carefully.”

“Thank you,” she said, putting her hands in her pockets, “Believe me, I know you don’t mean it, but he takes words harder than most people.” Everyone shook their heads in agreement, vowing to try harder in the future, when Spencer walked back into the BAU - lunch in his hands and a smile on his face.

\--------------------------

Spencer had asked Y/N that Friday if she wanted to get together at the park to play chess. He’d been thinking about playing her all week long. Saturday came and Y/N walked up to the bench where Spencer was waiting with his chessboard. 

“Hey, Spence,” she greeted, passing him the cup of coffee she’d purchased on the way over.

“Thanks,” he replied, taking a sip and smiling. On this cool November day, a nice cup of coffee had the ability to warm you up from the inside out. They both wanted to take in the nice weather before it got too cold.

Over the next hour or so, Spencer and Y/N played move after move. She was pretty sure she was going to beat him - internally doing a little happy dance. “Thanks for playing with me, by the way,” he said, moving one of his pawns.

“Of course, Spence. This is fun. We should play more often. I want to make a habit out of kicking your ass,” she winked.

He huffed. “You don’t have me yet, Y/N. It feels nice to know that someone else is interested in what I’m interested in - or will at least fake it.”  
So he had noticed. “You know they don’t mean it,” she assured him.

“I know,” he said, watching as she moved her last remaining queen, “It still hurts occasionally. I dealt with that kind of stuff, but x1000, when I was a kid.”

“Yea, that’s what I told them,” Y/N said, stretching her arms behind her back and smiling. She totally had him beat. He looked down at the board and she knew he saw it too.

“You told them that?” he asked.

“Yea...I...I told them they shouldn’t make fun of you when you’re just talking about something you love. It’s who you are.”

He moved his last possible piece, realizing he was beaten. “You didn’t have to do that, Y/N, but thanks. It means a lot.”

“Your ramblings are one of the things I love about you. You shouldn’t have to feel bad because you get a little overly excited,” she said.

“Do you...do you like me?” he asked, seeing the look on her face.

“I can’t believe it took you that long to notice, Spence. Yea, I do. So I don’t like it when people make fun of you.” She reached her hand across the table and placed it on top of his. “You have any other chess facts? I’m actually interested. I thought the thing about the priest was really fascinating.”

The biggest smile lit of his face. “As a matter of fact, I do, Y/N. Did you know that the second book ever printed in the English language was about chess?!”


End file.
